The kidnapping of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls by the extremist Islamic sect Boko Haram, which condemns Western education for women, spotlights the question of whether religious beliefs can ever be allowed to override "accepted norms" and human rights.

A nondescript suburb on the outskirts of San Francisco. A plain brick building. Seven nervous women wait in the sunlight. They are here for surgery, which perhaps has as much claim as any other to describe itself as “miraculous.” The little building doesn’t shout ...